Last Chance
by the-vampire-act
Summary: Reid/Prentiss. Reid had a plan. He just didn't know it yet. Prentiss stays at Reid's apartment, and things get...Crazy.


**This was written for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner Valentine's Day fic exchange for the lovely , a starr in photo. I will admit that this was a HUGE challenge for me, as I have NEVER written het or even a Reid/Prentiss friendship and requested only slash pairings for the competition. I almost gave up the challenge, but I didn't think it would be fair to you. Hope it didn't suck too much! Also, I apologize in advance for any mistakes; I didn't even have time to find a beta, and I wanted to post this by Valentine's Day :) **

The Last Chance Dance

Emily Prentiss stared back at the younger agent, obviously wanting to talk to him. Sighing, Reid placed his book down and gave his undivided attention to her. "What is it?" he asked.

"Did you ever go to prom?"

Reid blinked. Out of all the questions running through his minds that Prentiss might possibly have for him, his attendance at prom wasn't one of them. "Uh…No," he quickly recovered. "Did you?" It was the second most obvious follow-up question- the first being 'why?'- but she still seemed unprepared to answer it.

As if the conversation had suddenly lost its importance to her, she shrugged her shoulders and said "no" disinterestedly. Although Reid was positive she had seen him open his mouth, an obvious sign that he wanted to press the conversation a bit more, she turned back to her case file.

Just as Reid was about to turn back to his 18th century book, Prentiss cleared her throat. Slightly annoyed but also slightly curious, he raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, sorry," Prentiss mumbled, "but-um…" Finally, Prentiss sighed, obviously embarrassed to say what she needed to. "Hotch has his kid, Garcia has Kevin and her computers, Morgan has his girls, and Rossi's, well, Rossi, but you- you live by yourself…"

"What is it?" Reid frowned. Now he was thoroughly confused. Why would any of that- living conditions, he assumed- have to do with….

'Oh,' he thought, realization dawning. Prentiss seemed to sense that Reid understood, because she smiled sadly and took a deep breath, finally deciding that she should just ask him.

"My apartment level is being fumigated, and they want everyone out of there for a few days. Could I….Could I stay with you?" Before Reid could respond, she continued, her voice gaining speed. "I'll compensate you, of course, for the space and what-not, and I'm fine with the couch; I mean, I just thought it'd be easiest to stay with you because all my friends live further out in DC, and we both work in the same building-"

"Prentiss, it's fine," Reid smiled. "You can stay, and you don't have to pay me."

"Oh, well, thanks," she smiled back. She watched as Spencer took a sip from his cup, only to find that it was empty. Her eyes wandering to her own cup, and she realized that she too was about due for a refill. "Do you want me to get you a refull? I was going to get some more, anyways." Nodding politely, Reid blushed. Prentiss chuckled as she grabbed his cup, heading down the aisle way with a smile on her face.

~* LCLD *~

After the team landed, Prentiss and Reid made their way to his apartment. Neither of them had told the others that they were spending the weekend together in order to avoid unwanted and unwarranted speculation. They drove off in separate cars, and in a few minutes, they arrived at Reid's apartment complex. Prentiss parked her car and rolled out her plain black suitcase, smiling nervously when she caught Reid's eyes.

The building was a historic-looking black and maroon design and looked to be five floors tall. She could see why Reid had chose the building; it was very…. 'Reid-like.'

"Ready?" Reid sighed, and it was obvious to Prentiss that Reid was still exhausted from the team's last case. In all honestly, she was too. Nodding her head, she followed Reid into the building. A few seconds later, Prentiss and Reid reached apartment number 43. Opening the door, Reid moved so Prentiss could take a look around.

The first thing she noticed when she walked in the room was the large bookcase dominating the back wall of the red-black living room. An old leather couch laid beside a respectably large, but not too large, television screen with a dark-washed coffee table smack in the middle. If she would have measured the exact space between each corners of the room, she was sure that the table would literally be in the middle from every single angle, and the other larger items in the room seemed to be about the same way. Prentiss had expected the place to be tidy, but the apartment seemed to be compulsively clean, and from what she could see from the brown-blue kitchen, it appeared to be the same way.

"Not what you expected, or exactly what you expected?" Reid smirked as he let his go-bag slip to the floor.

"It's so clean!" Prentiss replied, half smiling. "I guess… I don't know, I just thought that anyone in our office would be-"

"Messy? Cluttered?" Reid supplied.

"Yeah, kind of," Prentiss admitted.

"I guess I am a bit of a neat-freak," Reid nodded. "It's how I was raised, you know, and there's just some habits that a person can't break." Picking up his bag, he motioned for Prentiss to follow him to the back of the small apartment where his bathroom, bedroom, and make-shift study were located.

As they were walking, Prentiss asked, "What room is this?"

"Oh, that's my study," Reid replied. "Most of my older books are in there, along with some stationery and paperwork. You can go in there anytime you'd like. I have a feeling I'll be pretty out of it tonight," he warned, "so it might come in handy if you're bored or need the internet."

"Okay, thanks," she smiled back politely. Then, they continued the short walk to the last two rooms.

"To the right's the bathroom, and the left is the bedroom."

'He didn't say my room,' Prentiss quickly mused. 'That either means he's detaching himself from it, or he wants me to sleep in there-' Prentiss stopped herself. Profiling Reid wasn't fair, especially after he had agreed to take her in for the weekend.

Reid opened the door to the bedroom, and Prentiss followed him inside. She watched as he placed his go-bag in the back of his mirrored closet doors before pulling it closed. He cleared his throat when he was done, his hands motioning toward the bed. "You know you're sleeping in here, right?"

"Uh, no I'm not," Prentiss scoffed. "And besides, do you really want me snooping through your underwear drawer in the middle of the night and send countless pictures to Garcia?"

Reid seemed to contemplate the idea for a second, but then a wide grin spread across his face. "But then they would know you were here, and Garcia would wonder why you stayed with me instead of her…and you know she'd tell Morgan-"

"Damn it," Prentiss scoffed. "But I'm still not sleeping in here. For one, I'll be up most of the night, and I want to watch this show on TV that comes on later," Prentiss supplied.

Reid raised his eyebrows, obviously not buying it "Oh really? What show?"

"A&E is showing reruns of this crime show that I'm sorta obsessed with. I missed the last few episodes, and I wanted to do some catching up." Amazingly, she wasn't lying; she had planned on watching the show that night, and she had planned to eat it with a chocolate bar she had smuggled into Reid's place.

"Do you really want to sleep in the living room?" Reid sighed, obviously too tired to fight with her anymore.

"Yes, and thank you," Prentiss replied, a small smile churning at the corners of her lips.

"Alright, fine," Reid nodded. "I'm going to take a quick shower. Please, feel free to make yourself at home."

"Thanks, I will," Prentiss nodded. Then, with a dismissive wave, Reid made his way into the bathroom.

~* LCDC *~

Spencer Reid didn't hesitate to go to bed after his shower, leaving Prentiss to explore his apartment as he slept. Quietly turning on the television show, she crept down the hallway and sneaked a peek in Reid's room, making sure he was still asleep before she hate her candy bar. She felt silly for doing it, but she had been looking forward to her weekend alone before her apartment was infested with vermin. Her eyes glazed down on Reid's sleeping form, smiling as she shook her head. Even in his kind-sized bed he slept in a tight ball, his matted hair pressed to his side as his arms curled around himself. Seemingly satisfied, she closed the door behind her and plopped back down on the couch. She opened her Toblerone dessert and munched on the first square with a smile, seemingly satisfied. Turning her gaze over to the television, she allowed her mind to be numbed by the eye candy laid out before her.

~* LCLD *~

SSA Emily Prentiss wasn't aware she had fallen to sleep until she was jerked awake by a familiar screaming noise. Automatically pulling herself back into 'SSA' mode, she grabbed her gun and ran to the source of the noise to the room on the right-hand side of the hallway, her sleepy mind already forgetting whether that was the bathroom or the bedroom. 'It's the bedroom, you idiot!' a voice in her head hissed. Ignoring it, she threw the door opened and jumped down to her knees besides Reid's semi-sleeping form. Her manicured hands firmly grabbed either of Reid's shoulders, shaking them to and fro. "Reid!" she shouted. "Reid, wake up!"

Reid jumped awake, his breathing becoming erratic as his panic set in. He pushed Prentiss off of him and screamed again, hiding himself from her.

"Reid, it's me; you're awake now!" Finally, Reid seemed to believe her, and he moved his head from where they perched between his knees. His hands remained wrapped around himself, though, as he was still obviously frightened by whatever had just happened. Miraculously, his eyes seemed to lose their distressed dilation and reflected his calming mood. Slowly, Prentiss approached him, and as she finally was able to see his eyes again, she realized he was crying.

"S-sorry," he stuttered, but Prentiss merely shook her head.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Sweetie," she sighed. She crawled on to the bed and took the spot opposite of him, waiting for him to take the comfort she knew he wanted. "It's okay, Re-_Spencer, _I'm not going to hurt you." Resignedly, he crept toward Prentiss. He was suddenly unsure of himself, but he still wanted to be…._touched. _Hugged, held, petted- _anything. _He wanted some sort of reassurance that everything was going to be okay. Prentiss, he knew, would allow that, and she was trustworthy enough to offer it. Giving in to the urge, he let her hug him comfort him as he cried on her shoulder.

"It's okay Reid, it's okay…"

~* LCLD *~

Less than fifteen minutes later, Prentiss and Reid had relocated to the study. Prentiss starting examining the classic books on the large burgundy cases as Reid himself huddled on the loveseat with a blanket and a Latin theory text from 1898. He was still obviously shaken by the nighttime disaster, and if Prentiss guessed correctly, a bit embarrassed, too. Every once in a while, Prentiss would glance down on the black leather seat to make sure Reid was still okay. Prentiss' gazed over a red-bound book that was unmarked. She pulled it out to inspect the inside of it, smiling as the old book smell hit her nose. As soon as she turned to the title page, or what she presumed was the title page, she realized that it wasn't in English. Sighing, she placed it back in its rightful spot and decided to sit down opposite of Reid. When he finished the page he was on, he looked up shyly and smiled just as timidly. A few seconds later, he gently placed a red cloth in between the pages he had left off on and put the book on the small desk that laid beside the loveseat. Then, he turned his full attention back to Prentiss.

"So, what do you want to do?" she asked with fake enthusiasm. "It's only….2 am."

"I want brownies," Reid mumbled, as if hoping Prentiss hadn't heard him. By the smile on her face, though, he had. "Um, sorry," he blushed.

"I was just thinking something similar," Prentiss admitted. She suddenly felt guilty for sneaking in candy. "Do you have brownie mix?"

"I always have brownie mix," Reid confessed, making Prentiss laugh. "Do you want to make some?" he asked hopefully.

Prentiss, with a huge grin on her face, nodded her head.

It was official- this was the best sleepover she had ever been to.

~* LCLD *~

When Emily Prentiss woke up, she was very much aware that her surroundings had changed very severely. All around her were small multi-colored balloons, streamers, and trays of brownies. 'God, how many brownies did we make?' she asked in her mind. Just as she was about to get up, a note on the stand next to her caught her eyes. Picking it up, she read the fancy scrawl:

_Don't worry, I'll explain everything when I come back. In the meantime, I suggest you check the study. _

_-Spencer Reid_

Curiosity burning inside of her, Prentiss stood up and practically ran to the study. 'What is going on?" she sighed. "This better be worth it!" she mumbled- this time out loud-when she reached the door. Licking her lips, she pulled it to and gasped.

Hanging from a hook on the middle of the room was an elegant blue dress with a thin layer of black cloth draped down the middle of it. It was a sleeveless formal, and it was everything she would have wanted in a prom dress- that is, if she had been allowed to go to prom. On a table opposite of it was a tray of dark chocolate-covered cherries and another note. Smiling, she ran over to it and picked it up.

_Check underneath the desk and in the second drawer. I'll explain later. _

_-SR_

Her smile growing from excitement, she swiveled the chair away to see what was underneath. "Oh my god!" she squealed, bending down to pick up her discover. They were a pair of black heels with tiny blue bows smack-dab in the center where a small opening for her toes laid. Slipping them on, she proceeded to the second drawer. "God," she whispered, "what are you doing, Reid?" Inside the drawer were two jewelry boxes, both of which she eagerly opened. The larger one held a long gold necklace with a blue and white snowflake dangling off of it with a matching pair of earrings. She placed the treasures down to open the smaller box, which held a matching tennis bracelet with little snowflakes engraved in it. 'You better not have bought these!' she inwardly hissed. Just as she was about to place the letter down, a small letter dropped from the box.

_Be ready by 11. I should be back by then…._

_-SR_

Prentiss frowned as she looked up at the clock on the wall. '10:45. Damn!' she hissed. Hurriedly, she threw off her shirt and pants in exchange for the dress, suddenly glad that she had in fact wore a strapless bra. After struggling to get the dress on, she zipped it up and slipped on the matching shoes. With five minutes to spare, she was fully dressed, praying that she wouldn't have to wait too long to see what Reid was planning.

Luckily, as soon as the thought left her mind, she heard the front door opening. Suddenly nervous, she patted down the front of her dress, hoping that she looked okay in it. Her eyes scanned over to the chocolates, and before she could stop herself, she popped one of the cherries inside her mouth. When Reid walked in, she was still chewing.

"I see you found the notes," he smiled.

Prentiss's eyes went wide as she looked at Reid; he wore a purple shirt with a simple but handsome suit, and in his hand was a flower- no, a corsage- in beautiful blue and white colors.

"Oh my god, are you taking me to prom?" Prentiss asked, her eyes lighting up.

Reid blushed before nervously nodding. "Neither of us have been before, and it's almost Valentine's day…" As if just realizing what he had said, his eyes went wide. "Er, not like that! I don't mean for this to be a date-"

"I know Reid, it's okay!" Prentiss laughed. "It's…sweet, actually."

Reid nodded, letting his blush fade away as he cleared his throat. "I, um….I remember talking to you about… about prom, and I thought that maybe… maybe…" His blush crept back on his face, making Prentiss's smile grow wider.

"Why, SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, are you asking me to prom?"

"Emily Prentiss, will you be my prom date?" he asked, his voice raising an octave from either embarrassment or nervousness. In his situation, she guessed it was both.

"Reid- Spencer, I'd love to be your prom date."

~* LCLD *~

Less than half an hour later, Prentiss and Reid were in full 'prom attire' and were dancing in the middle of the living room carelessly to nameless songs. The music was lost on them, though, as they tossed a balloon back and forth at each other, laughing all the while. Later on, they would describe it as the best prom a person could have, but as they haphazardly ran and danced and sung and played, they didn't think of anything.

"Oh, I love this song!" Prentiss exclaimed, pointing at the radio.

"And what song would that be?" Reid smirked.

"It's by Noah and the Whale…." Seeing the confused look on Reid's face, she merely rolled her eyes and said, "Never mind; that's not really important right now."

Then, with a smile on his face, Reid nodded his head. "No, no it's not."

For the rest of the night, balloons were tossed back and forth, smiles and laughter were shared, and songs played over and over in the background as the two friends shared a precious moment that they had been denied in their childhood. Tonight, the knew exactly what it felt like to be prom king and queen.

Then, without another word, Prentiss and Reid leaned forward and did what they had both wanted to do for a very long time…

They kissed.

**~* LCLD *~**

**I'm not a fan of het at all , but I felt that it would be selfish to not add it here ;) Have a great Valentine's Day, a starr in photo! I did the best I could, and I hope I didn't disappoint! Happy Valentine's Day to everyone else, too!**


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